What better way to celebrate the greatest bike race in the world starting than to take a trip to the mountains with some friends. We left at 6:30 am this morning and I was feeling great about it. The weather in Helen, Georgia was about 75 degrees when we got there. It was my friends; Stephen Sisk, Clint Sanders, and Gary McCarthy. I picked Stephen up on the way and we talked about the tour and our families and tried to wake up. Clint drove on his own and Gary showed up a little late. A fact that we all found funny because he and his wife were staying in a cabin up there. As we started in the crisp mountain air my legs were a little achy so I started telling everyone how much riding I'd been doing this week with the hope that it would lead to Clint taking it easy on me. You see Clint is a mountain goat. I like him alot but he hurts me everytime we ride. Our group was great because�Clint and I�had one pace, Gary and Stephen had theirs. We'd wait at the tops and ride together through the valleys. The mountains of North Georgia are tough to be sure but none are tougher than the first climb we tackled known as HOG PEN GAP. Averaging 6% for 7 miles with pitches of 12%. But I must say the best part of the ride over hog pen for me is the decent. 55 mph without pedaling. My new GIANT TCR Advanced SL0 was great. In fact I felt so confident in all the decents it may be dangerous. We rode up to the top of Woody's Gap which just happens to be the base of the most famous climb in Georgia, BRASSTOWN BALD. We waited on Stephen for a bit longer that usual and just as I started back down he came riding up telling us about a new friend he met. A BEAR! That's right a bear walked across the road in front of him. He was carrying my camera but couldn't think clearly enough to take a picture. So of course we told him we didn't believe it without proof. After some manly declarations we headed for our last obsticle�of the day Unicoi Gap. Once over that we headed down Clint's favorite decent back into Helen. By�the time we reached Helen it was buzzing with 4th of July tubers. Let me explain that. There's a great river that runs through Helen and people pay money to rent a big inner tube, have a truck take them up river, and float down for the next 2-3 hours. Not many calories burned but plenty are consumed. So two and a half hours later we made our way through the "tubers" traffic and back to the cars. What a great ride! A quiet mountain morning, good friends to suffer with, and the Tour De France waiting to watch back home. Of course by the time I got home it was too late to upload the ride to count as my Tour Challenge Stage 1. Would've been nice to know that little tid bit before hand. But at least I got a great ride in. Thanks for reading. Keep riding!